You have to hand it to new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka in terms of whom he really had in mind to coach the Leafs. Who had Jim Hiller as a candidate? Who had someone who flamed out with the Los Angeles Kings just 3 1/2 months ago?Hiller is getting a second go as an NHL head coach, and it’s a franchise he is familiar with, having spent four years as a Leafs assistant under Mike Babcock. As he hits the ground running, the 57-year-old can certainly lean on relationships he forged with Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly — provided that Rielly, a potential trade candidate, remains with the club.What can Hiller bring to the Leafs from his L.A. experience as he returns to The Center of the Hockey Universe? The narrative that he gifted his last playoff series to the Edmonton Oilers with botched decisions still has legs, and without question, it proved to be the turning point in his time coaching the Kings. But what gets shoved into the background is that the Kings found success with him in charge — at least until pivotal moments.When the Kings ran aground in 2024 in a terrible January that got Todd McLellan fired after a 16-4-4 start (which included 11 straight road wins to open that season), Hiller was tabbed to handle the coaching duties on an interim basis. His mission was simple: Get the Kings in the postseason. It was a logical ask given Los Angeles had been a playoff team the previous two seasons and was very much on a win-now track.Is Viggo Bjorck the best center in the NHL Draft?Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and moreHiller got the Kings back on the rails with a 21-12-1 stretch run after the All-Star break that resulted in team removing the interim tag, rewarding him with a three-year contract. Influential players backed him. One of the strong statements of support came from Drew Doughty, who said he wanted him to be the coach. “And I knew that right from the first time he took over,” Doughty said. “I was asking for it.”“They could have went in a bunch of different directions,” Hiller told The Athletic in a 2025 interview. “I can say this with full confidence. I felt that I was the best person for the job at the moment. I really did. And I thought if they don’t see that, then they don’t see that. I just felt that.”One of Hiller’s strengths is interpersonal communication, and he leaned on that, perhaps offering himself as a respite from the direct and blunt McLellan. He connected with the Kings’ top players, and that ability should help as he re-engages with the Leafs’ stars. It didn’t always work — he couldn’t get the enigmatic Pierre-Luc Dubois to have a big impact, just as McLellan couldn’t — but Hiller managed to get the mercurial Kevin Fiala to play more responsibly while still allowing the talented left wing to produce offensively.Hiller’s relationship with Fiala held up well even after the winger was benched for taking a bad penalty or committing an unforced turnover. Or, in one instance, a healthy scratch when he overslept and missed a team bus, causing him to be late for the team’s usual game-day meeting. Veteran players bought in, and that was necessary with the Kings built to win with depth instead of being carried by a starry Core Four.